If you are serious about making money from your writing then it’s time to skip the traditional publisher and start thing about becoming an indie author.

While I personally like the hand holding and attention that I get from my publisher (plus the editing, marketing and cover design services I get) lately I’ve become increasingly frustrated that author’s get such as small royalty compared to the sale of the book. At something like 10% of the retail price, I’m making only just above $2 every time my book is sold whereas the publisher makes close to 50% (or thereabouts).

Not to mention the slow lead time it takes from the time I finish writing it to when it gets onto bookshelves. (I finished my last book late March and it’s due to be available in September this year).

Electronic publishing is becoming easier these days and as more and more readers turn to electronic readers like the Kindle and iPad (both of which I own and love) I’ve been researching more about how to get your book available electronically to reach the largest audience.

So here are the top three places that you need to be in, to get the widest distribution.

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing

You might as well start out with the place that sells the most books and the largest network worldwide – Amazon. Most indie authors say that the biggest portion of their sales come from Amazon so it makes sense to list it here first.

If you price your book between $2.99 and $9.99 you’ll get royalties of 70%, while prices outside that will fall to 35%.

It’s quite easy to get onto the Kindle and the KDP has a good job showing you how to convert your manuscript into Kindle format.

You’ll get monthly cheques (if you are outside of the US), or direct deposit if you have a US bank account. It sucks that at the moment Amazon don’t have direct deposit for International author’s – something hopefully they will look at doing in the future.

Barnes & Noble’s PubIt

The second largest bookstore in the US is Barnes and Noble, and their Nook is gaining popularity since they released their color touchscreen version.

So you definitely want to be listed in the Barnes & Noble directory too. Head over to their PubIt! website, signup and follow the directions for adding your book. You’ll get royalties of 65% for list prices of between $2.99 and $9.99, and 40% for prices outside of this. B&N pay by direct deposit monthly.

Smashwords

The last big distributer you want to list your ebook into is Smashwords. They’ll take your manuscript and then distribute it further to the rest of the big readers like the Sony Readers, Palm, Kobo and of course iBooks for the iPad, iPhone and Touch.

Smashwords pays various royalties, depending on which reader the customer purchased through but generally it will be around 60% of your list price. They pay monthly directly into your PayPal account.

By using these three distributors you’ll catch the biggest chunk of customers and make more money as an independent author/publisher.

I have mixed feelings about the closure of so many bookstores around Australia right now. While I’m sad that so many people have lost their jobs, I’m also excited that I’m about to be part of a new world when it comes to books and reading.

While print books are never going to disappear completely, (too many people still like the smell of paper and the act of turning a page), it is inevitable that reading books would evolve with technology just like the music and film industries have.

In fact in Amazon’s last report they said that they are now selling far more digital books than print books. I think it was something like 130:100 and that figure was growing month to month as more users purchased eBook readers like the Kindle, Nook, and of course the iPad (technically not an ebook reader but still used by many to read books on).

And I’m one of the many people who have embraced digital books. Since I got my Kindle late last year I can’t put it down. I originally thought that I wouldn’t use it much but since owning one I’ve purchased far more books on it in six months than I have with print books over the last three years.

One of the reasons is that digital books are so much cheaper than print books and also that you can download a book to your reader within seconds.

But what does this mean for authors?

Well it now means that your books can be available to a worldwide audience and that someone can download your book and pay you (or your publisher if you still use one) on a monthly basis. The ease of buying a book (especially at a lower price) means, in theory, that your volume will go up and therefore your royalties.

What about print editions though?

Sure you can still have print editions if you like, although the majority of these will be now sold by online retailers rather than walk-in bookstores. So again, the ease of buying a book will be improved.

Won’t the lower priced books mean lower royalties for authors?

Depends. While the overall royalty might be lower (especially if you are going through a traditional publisher), the volume will more than make up for it. More people buying your book is going to mean more money in your pocket.

And now that the distribution process has nearly all but been eliminated it may even mean that you’ll be able to get a book up yourself without having to use a traditional publisher. More and more authors are choosing to go Indie and publish themselves. That means they actually make MORE royalty per book even though the book price is lower than previous books.

It’s actually quite an exciting time for authors and personally I can’t wait to see how the industry plays out over the next few years.